What’s eighty dollars? A trifle. An insignificant sum.

The banks on either side of the creek were high enough to high center the long trailer house.

Pepe's Food & Liquor (2333 N. Western, 773-278-8756) appears to be your standard neighborhood liquor and sundries store, but it also carries a small stock of Brazilian goods, most importantly two kinds of cachaca, the rumlike sugarcane liquor critical to caipirinhas and batidas.

She led the way through a wide hall into a charming room, where a table was already spread in its dainty napery and silver.